Category: Small Business News, Resources & Tips

You have been told that you need an SSL certificate for your small business website, but it’s just a simple brochure site so you’re not exactly sure why. While in the past many simple websites could get away without SSL, that’s not the case anymore as the world’s most popular browsers push towards universal encryption and a safer web for all, not just online shoppers. So with that in mind, let’s dive into the what, why, where, who, and when of SSL certificates.

If you are the owner of multiple domain names you are probably familiar with the headache of tracking where each domain name is registered, the business or personal names provided for the registrant, the associated contact information and when they are going to expire.

Starting a business can be tough—not only do you want to choose the perfect domain name, but also cover all your bases for finding a great registrar, protecting your domain and marketing your business. To help you out, and in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, we’ve compiled a list of 150 things to remember when starting a business in .CA. As Canada’s original domain registrar, we have a lot of experience to share.

Local SEO has been a popular tactic employed by small businesses over the last few years. Compared to its national counterpart, local search optimization gives local businesses a competitive edge against larger and well-established businesses.

In my role as Vice-Chair of the Small Business Roundtable of BC, I work with industry leaders and other small business owners to identify key issues and opportunities facing small businesses in British Columbia and to develop recommendations for small business and government on strategies to enhance small business growth and success.

In this article, we share the best SEO plugins for WordPress to optimize your website and rank better on search engines.

Search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites so optimizing your pages to rank on Google is important. With tons of SEO plugins available on WordPress, our customers often ask us what the best options are and tips to improve the SEO of their WordPress websites.

You can have the best website and product but it won’t matter if visitors can’t find your website.

Contrary to popular belief, just because you’ve built a website doesn’t mean that customers will start coming in. In fact, it’s only the first step and search engine optimization (SEO) is the way to get people through your digital door.

With Alphabet (Google), Donuts Inc. and upstart Nu Dot Co LLC, competing against each other, the winning bid was produced by Nu Dot Co LLC. Backed by Verisign – the registry for .COM and .NET – Nu Dot Co beat out the both Alphabet’s and Donuts’ massive coffers, combined.

Choosing a domain name is like choosing a name for your business. It requires a lot of time and careful planning to find the right one. Like your company name, your domain name is your identity online – it represents your brand and it’ll be how customers recognize you on the web.

Choosing the best web hosting plan for your small business doesn’t have to be difficult. It might seem like a daunting task especially when you go to web hosting review sites only to see that all the companies look identical to one another. However, choosing the right hosting company to work with can be made much easier when you simplify things.

Over the past year and a half, over 450 new domain extensions such as .consulting, .social, .tech and even .ninja have launched but none have created as much controversy and concern as the Vox Populi owned .SUCKS domain.

In 2014, former US senator Jay Rockefeller told the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that is shouldn’t approve .sucks. The former senator called .sucks “little more than a predatory shakedown scheme” to force corporations, small businesses and individuals to pay an annual fee to prevent others from registering the .sucks variation of their domain name.

The next Local Leaders event has been announced and this time, Andrew Shepherd of the Vancouver Island Salt Co. will be joining the Small Business BC team in a local mixer where small business owners and thought leaders can connect with each other.